The present invention relates to image-based financial document processing systems, and is particularly directed to a distributed image capture proof-of-deposit system and a method of operating a distributed image capture proof-of-deposit system.
A typical distributed image capture proof-of-deposit system includes a number of different types of workstations located at a central check processing site and a number of different types of workstations located at each of a plurality of branches located remotely from the central site. Each branch may include a document preparation workstation and an image capture workstation. After documents are prepared for further processing at the document preparation workstation, a capture application of the image capture workstation is used to capture image data and MICR codeline data from the documents. The capture application uses the captured image data and codeline data to create units of work (i.e., batches of items) which is submitted via a data network to a workflow manager located at the central site. The central site may include a recognition workstation, a keying and balancing workstation, an encoding workstation, and a printing workstation. Each of the workstations at the central site polls the workflow manager for work to perform, and may also create units of work which are submitted back to the workflow manager. Image data and codeline data are processed at the different workstations at the central site.
After all of the batches of items from a particular branch have been balanced at the central site, an application at the central site sends a list of items within each balanced group of batches (known as an “entry”) to downstream check processing software for further processing. As an example, the application at the central site may comprise NCR's ImageMark POD Balanced Item Export, a product of NCR Corporation, located in Dayton, Ohio. The further processing by the downstream check processing software at the central site includes, but is not limited to:                posting customer accounts        performing research and adjustments        creating bundle lists and cash letters for transit items which are sent out of the central site to another processing site, such as the Federal Reserve for example        
The downstream check processing software at the central site may comprise IBM's Check Processing Control System™ (CPCS). When CPCS is used, each entry must include a group of items known as “tracer” items. As is known, each entry processed at each branch needs to have a unique group of tracer items associated therewith. A typical unique group of tracer items includes about fifty items. Tracer items and their use are well known in the banking industry. As is known, each item of a unique group of tracer items is pre-encoded with a corresponding unique 4-digit entry number, and an incrementing 3-digit slip number, which usually starts at 001. Each unique group of tracer items is stored in a memory known as the CPCS Mass Data Set along with the items from the corresponding entry. The unique group of tracer items for each entry is used to identify the work throughout the CPCS processing workflow.
In order to leverage using CPCS in known distributed image capture proof-of-deposit systems, the capture application at the image capture workstation at each branch must follow the convention of capturing a unique group of tracer items at the beginning of each entry at the branch. The unique group of tracer items for a particular entry must be placed at the beginning of that entry. Accordingly, when batches of items associated with an entry are initially captured at the image capture workstation of a branch, the unique group of tracer items associated with that particular entry needs to be captured prior to the first batch of the entry.
Also, in order for the different workstations at the central site to properly process all entries received from all branches each day, no two groups of tracer items can be the same. One way to ensure that no two groups of tracer items are the same for any given day is to have the central site send out all of the different groups of tracer items to all of the branches for that day. A drawback in having the central site to do this on a daily basis is that the cost of operating the distributed image capture system is relatively high.
Another drawback is that it is difficult to ensure that each branch will use the correct unique group of tracer items on the correct day. For any given day, CPCS does not allow for entries being captured at multiple branches with duplicate tracer items, and does not accept receipt of a subsequent entry assigned the duplicate tracer items. The result is that the subsequent entry could not be processed by CPCS until the duplicate tracer items were changed to include a unique 4-digit entry number. Changing the tracer items in the subsequent entry would entail either (i) capturing a new group of tracer items, and replacing the previous group of duplicate tracer items within a database with the new group of tracer items, or (ii) repairing the codelines and field data captured on the original group of duplicate tracer items. Either option is usually difficult to perform, resulting in delay of the processing of the entry within CPCS. Logistically, it is difficult to ensure that each branch will use the correct unique group of tracer items each day.